Apple has been ordered by Tianjin Binhai People’s Court in China to pay $1.9 million to Chinese online publisher COL Digital Publishing Group after several third party apps were found to be publishing book content without authorization. The court said Apple failed to conduct due diligence on third-party apps to stop infringement. Online platforms in China do not have the same kind of Section 230 protections as in the US, where companies have almost no liability for third-party content. A partner at Shanghai Debund Law Firm You Yunting tells South China Morning Post, “Chinese courts have established rather high standards […]
Archives for 2021
Harper Gains On Strong Market, HMH
News Corp. reported fiscal first quarter sales after the close of the market on Thursday, with HarperCollins showing increases “driven by strong sales and the successful integration of HMH.” Sales were $546 million for the quarter, $88 million higher than a year ago. HMH accounted for $50 million, with adjusted revenue or organic Harper sales up 7.2 percent over last year’s $458 million, helped by $7 million in foreign exchange. (A year ago, HMH recorded sales of $55.7 million in the same quarter, including $4 million in licensing revenue for the Carmen Sandiego series on Netflix.) In the conference call […]
Another Sale at Follett: Management Leads Buyout of Baker & Taylor
Follet has sold Baker & Taylor to a private investment group, led by president and CEO Aman Kochar. The disposal follows the sale of Follet School Solutions to Francisco Partners at the beginning of September. Follet bought Baker & Taylor and Bookmasters from Castle Harlan in 2016. B&T has slimmed down since that transaction, most notably with their exit from the business of wholesaling books to retailers in 2019. Kochar says in the announcement, “This is a pivotal and exciting time for Baker & Taylor. As an independent entity, we look forward to leading with our expertise and legacy and […]
People 11/4
Dennis Lee joins Zando as head of finance and operations. He was previously at Harper Collins.
Sales Increases at HMH, Bertelsmann
On Thursday, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt reported third quarter earnings for the period ending September 30, with sales of $417 million, up 25.9 percent from 2020. The company reported income of $95 million, up from a loss of ($12) million last year. They claim these are “strong” results, and the company increased their full year billings guidance for the second time, to $1.075–1.095 billion, up from $980 million–$1.02 billion. But the bar was mighty low. Two years ago sales for the same quarter were $566 million (with $48 million from the now-sold trade division). “Underpinning these growth opportunities is a large […]
Another Record Third Quarter for Simon & Schuster
ViacomCBS reported third quarter results on Thursday morning, with publisher Simon & Schuster well exceeding last year’s third quarter, which had set a new record for revenues. This year, third quarter sales hit $321 million, up 15 percent from $279 million in 2020 (which compared to $217 million in 2019, and $240 million in 2018). Operating income grew even more, to $93 million, compared to $56 million in 2020. (“Earnings” from discontinued operations, with is “primarily” S&S, were $94 million, versus $61 million a year ago.) CEO Jonathan Karp said, “It was a stellar quarter in an outstanding year,” with […]